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Quotable: Dave Johnson on the Fiscal Cliff Scare

“At the end of the year the Bush tax cuts expire. When this happens tax rates will rise modestly to where they were when Clinton was president. Also at the end of the year budget “sequestration” occurs. This means that the various cuts Congress approved to end the debt-ceiling “crisis” will begin to phase in. (Remember, the debt-ceiling “crisis” was when Republicans refused to allow the country to honor its debts, holding the economy hostage, unless they got deep budget cuts in the things We the People do for each other.)

That’s it. That’s the “crisis.” All of the people who had been hysterical about the budget deficit “crisis” are now hysterical that taxes will go up and spending will go down. Go figure. Maybe—just maybe—I shouldn’t even say it—these “serious people” weren’t…serious…when they said they were worried about the deficit. You see, the hysteria now is because tax rates at the top will go up (cutting the deficit) and because a big part of those budget cuts (cutting the deficit) is military spending. Unfortunately the sequestration also cuts important things that help a lot of people and our economy. But these cuts do not take place all at once (a “cliff”), they will be phased in over time, and Congress can act at any time to halt any of these cuts.

The “Fiscal Cliff” is not a cliff and the language itself is intended to scare people. The name itself is designed to create panic, evoking disaster imagery of people and the economy falling off a cliff. It is the latest manufactured “crisis” and we are all supposed to be terrified and demand immediate and extreme solutions….